HarperVoyager hails success of first TikTok creator house and plans more activity

HarperVoyager says it is planning lots more BookTok activity after the success of its first creator house at Hay Festival. 

Creator houses are physical spaces where creators and influencers come together to collaborate and create content for social media. HarperVoyager worked with eight BookTok influencers in Hay-on-Wye to take part in special themed events such as a quiz and tarot card reading. 

Fleur Clarke, HarperFiction head of brand and creative marketing, told The Bookseller: “BookTok show no signs of slowing down, and we’ve seen a fantastic reaction to the creator house – so we’re definitely planning lots more BookTok activity.  

“We’ve just launched our own channel, so our focus at the moment is capturing lots of behind-the-scenes content for that, as well as working with influencers to create content around our incredible 2022 list. We’re always on the look out for new an innovative ways to engage readers – so watch this space.” 

The content produced at this year’s creator house had more than 170,000 views. Clarke said the team were “thrilled” and were seeing “fantastic pre-orders and buzz” for key summer launches such as Saara El-Arifi’s The Final Strife, R F Kuang’s Babel and Juno Dawson’s Her Majesty’s Royal Coven. 

Natasha Bardon, publishing director at HarperVoyager, previously said the rise of BookTok was “incredibly exciting” as a means to extend the publisher’s reach with its new YA SFF imprint, Magpie Books, coming in 2023. 

“It’s fantastic when a new social media platform launches and allows brilliant books to find a whole new audience," she said. "Book recommendations and discoverability in all forms have always been key to success. A platform that allows for authentic, reliable recommendations at a swipe is invaluable and seeing reader reactions to books they love is a joy. With all these platforms authenticity is key. It’s difficult to compare platforms, but anything that gets people reading and excited for books is brilliant.”